Month: April 2009

Hey there, I just wanted to pass on some information. One of the things I like to do is to keep track of the humpbacks that we have seen in our little part of the Bay of Fundy. A young whale that we saw on August 22nd, 23rd and 24th during our 2006 season named Godzilla has been sighted on Stellwagen Bank.

Hey everyone, it’s Danielle with Quoddy Link Marine. We only have 6 days left to submit some great names for Six’s 2007 calf so get your thinking caps on and send me your ideas.

Just a reminder….no gender specific names, whale names can only be used once (I can let you know if your suggestion has already been taken), names should be short, and names should be based on the pigmentation of the fluke (sometimes we use the dorsal fin or the trailing edge of the fluke).

Hey everyone, I just wanted to share that I had the privilege to name another whale. This is now Lilium (genus for true lilies, mark on upper right looks like a lily). I suggested Lilium after there were issues with some previously suggested names that were very popular with the voters so I certainly can not take all of the credit here….I’m still excited though! I do want to mentioned that Lilium was not sighted in the Bay of Fundy but in the southern Gulf of Maine.

Naming will begin for the previously sighted calves next week so if you have any suggestions for Six’s 2007 Calf, please, let me know!

Hey everyone, I just wanted to let you know that the first humpback of our 2008 season now has a name. I’d like to introduce Flicker (named for “White mark in center looks like a candle with a flame”).

There was another unknown whale that I mentioned in the last post that I had the chance to name but my vote of “Excavate” was not selected, the group went with “Bulldozer”. And because of some issues with spelling and pronunciation, there is another whale that is up for naming and my suggestion is in the lead right now. I will post more info if my name gets chosen.

Don’t forget to suggest any names for this young whale. This is the 2007 calf of Six and we spent some time with this baby in the 2008 season. Naming will continue for about 2 weeks.

Thanks for checking in today, Have a safe and happy Easter weekend. Cheers!

Hey everyone, it’s Danielle with Quoddy Link Marine with some great news! Last season we had 6 whales (out of 10 total that we confirmed) who needed to be named. 5 of the 6 were unknowns, this means that they were not sighted as a calf, and this was the first time they were photographed. The 6th whale was the 2007 calf of Six. Now, 5 of the 6, all the whales but the young calf now have names, well, almost. I got to be a part of the whale naming even again this year (names get suggested and then voted on by naturalists and researchers) and so far, 5 of my names have been chosen, maybe more after the voting is done. A quick explanation, whales are named for the pigmentation on the underside of the fluke (sometime for the unique shape of the jagged trailing edge). Names must NOT be gender specific, the can only be used once and they should be short. So, now, I would like to introduce…

This very special whale is no longer an unknown, this is Campobello. I had the privilege to name this whale and I am so happy that others voted for Campobello as well. Campobello was chosen for the black shape on the left fluke that resembles an island. I wanted this name for more than that reason….Mackie Greene and the Campobello Whale Rescue Team saved this whale from a life-threatening entanglement in December of 2007. I really hope we get to see Campobello this coming summer.

This young whale has been named Meristem. The reason given was “for the lines that are like the offshoots of new stems, production of such is in the meristem”. I am assuming it’s for the black line around the center of the fluke on both sides.

This young whale has been named Inlet. The reason given was “The lines on the RF (right fluke) look like the opening to a harbor or inlet and the small black line looks like a boat heading towards it.”

This whale was given the name Exacto and the reason given was “straight line on left looks like exacto knife”.

This whale I need your help with. This was the first humpback whale that we saw in our 2008 season and after the 2 week voting process we have a tie! The 2 names up are Winner (“The white line on lower right center looks a bit like an Oscar”) and Flicker (“White mark in center looks like a candle with a flame”). Let me know what you think and I will vote that way. I need to know by April 8th!

Well, those are the 5 whales that we saw during the 2008 season but I also wanted to share with you the whales that I got to name (other than Campobello, of course). These whales were seen in the southern Gulf of Maine.

This whale has been named Pivot because of “On the RF (right fluke), the black lines look like a metal compass. A compass has one end for a pencil/pen and the other end has a point , the compass would pivot at that point.”

This unknown’s name is now Syrinx because “On the LF (left fluke), trailing edge, the white marks look like a panflute. Another word forpanflute is Syrinx, from greek mythology for the Greek God Pan.”

And this whale is now Causeway, “On the lower section of the RF (right fluke), the bridge like shape looks like a causeway bridge”.

This whale is now Lightbulb, “white mark on RF (right fluke) that looks like a lightbulb”.

This whale’s voting is still up for naming because of a tie. My name of Excavate (“On the lower LF (left fluke), the black part looks like a burrow being dug out”) is in the running!

The 2008 Gulf of Maine Humpback Naming Event isn’t over yet. All of the previously sighted calves, icluding Six’s 2007 calf (below) still have to be named. Check back soon and I will have some news for you one the tie-breaking votes and some new whale names.

Thanks for checking in!

Blog Editor Profile – Danielle

I have been working for Quoddy Link Marine since 2002. I graduated from the University of Guelph with an honors BSc. in Marine Biology. I'm in charge of photographing, identifying and recording the whales that we see and sharing that information with Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, MA and the Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station on Grand Manan, NB. It's a privilege to have the opportunity to spend the amount of time I do on the water with the whales, they are absolutely amazing creatures.

Facebook

Error: The user must be an administrator, editor, or moderator of the page in order to impersonate it. If the page business requires Two Factor Authentication, the user also needs to enable Two Factor Authentication.Type: OAuthExceptionCode: 190Subcode: 492Please refer to our Error Message Reference.